Bagpipe



March 4, 1941,

J. ADAMSON BAGPIPE Filed May 23, 1940 I10 /I nnnn II Patented Mar. 4, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to musical wind instruments and particularly to bagpipes. The bagpipe, as it has been known and used for many years past comprises essentially an air reservoir or bag with a flexible wall, a tube including a non-return valve through which air under light pressure may be forced into the bag, .several sounding tubes or drones to produce bass notes and a flute or oboe-like member known as the chanter.

The air receptacle or bag is preferably of animal skin such as elk hide, is flexible, and is of such shape that it may be readily carried under the arm of the player of the instrument who, by exerting pressure against the wall of the bag, may forcibly expel the air which it contains through the sounding elements, there being usually three drones and a single chanter. The drones are attached to the upper portion of the bag at spaced points and are directly supplied with air through apertures formed in the wall of the bag. The chanter, however, which is an elongated flute or oboe-like tubular instrument 5 provided with holes for finger operation, may be said to be connected to one end of the bag by means of a neck of reduced cross-section through which air must pass. As is well-known to all who are familiar with the operation of bagpipes, the player holds the chanter-before him either in an inclined or in a substantially vertical position, the major axis of the bag, however being held in a generally horizontal position. Difficulty has occasionally been exper- 5 ienced heretofore in maintaining a full and free flow of air from the bag to the chanter, largely by reason of the fact that the neck of the bag is, when the chanter is moved to playing position, partially collapsed or kinked. Anything which restricts the free flowof air to the chanter, of course, interferes with the proper operation of the instrument the operation of the chanter being interfered with and likewise the proper balance between the volumes of air 5 passing to the chanter, on the one hand, and the drones, on the other hand, being destroyed. In accordance with my invention a greatly improved type of neck construction is employed whereby the neck connecting the bag and chanter is curved to begin with and, further than this, is stiffened somewhat by the addition of stifily flexible material, as a result of which the neck maintains its full effective cross-sectional area at all times when the bag is in use, but is neverthe- 5 less quite suificiently flexible to permit the bag to be folded with ease when the instrument is laid away.

A preferred type of bagpipe neck construction is illustrated in the accompanying drawing and will be hereinafter described in detail. It will be appreciated, however, by those skilled in the art that minor changes in detail may be adopted and made use of without departure from the invention.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a View showing a bagpipe in front elevation, as carried by a player;

Figure 2 is a front elevation, on a larger scale, of the neck of the bagpipe, a portion thereof at the upper end of the chanter being partially broken away in order that the details of construction may be more clearly perceived;

Figure 3 is a further view of the neck of the bag and portion of the chanter, the bag being shown partially in side elevation and partially broken away;

Figure 4 is a plan view of the blank from which the improved bag is made; and

Figure 5 is a plan view of the blank used in the fabrication of a bagpipe bag in accordance with the teachings of the prior art.

Referring first to Figure 1. The bag of the bagpipe is indicated generally by the numeral In, the several drones at H, the air inlet tube at l2, a mouthpiece therefor at l3, and the chanter is indicated at 14, being connected to the bag [0 by means of a neck l5 which, as shown most clearly in Figure 3, is curved. The ornamental covering which normally envelops the bag is not shown. The chanter I4 is a flute-like instrument having air escape holes adapted to be covered by the fingers of the player, the tubular upper end of this chanter, which is indicated at l6, extending within the mouth or free end of the neck portion I5, as shown very clearly in, Figures 2 and 3, and being permanently held in this position by means of a strong cord l8 which is wrapped a number of times around a fiber or leather Wrapping member l9 which encircles that portion of the neck which overlies the end of the chanter IS. The tubular portion l6 of the upper end. of the chanter, which portion is preferably fabricated of wood, is circumferentially grooved as at 2| and an annular portion of the neck I5 of the bag is forced into this groove and retained therein by one or more wrappings of stout cord so that the chanter is firmly retained in the position in which it is shown.

The bag I0 is fabricated preferably of animal hide such for instance as elk hide, although it may be fabricated of other material if desired. In the fabrication of the bag of a bagpipe, in accordance with the teachings of the prior art, a flat blank of leather or the like, shaped substantially as that shown in Figure 5, is first made or cut. This blank is then doubled on itself about its longitudinal central axis, indicated at D-D, and the edges a and b of the projecting tongue or strip A are stitched or otherwise suitably secured together to form the neck to which the chanter is adapted to be attached. However, a neck formed in this manner is practically in alignment with the axis of the bag so that, if the chanter is to be moved into a position such as that indicated in Figures 1 and 3 of the drawing, so that it may be conveniently held in playing position in the hands of the player, the normally straight neck of the bag must be bent through substantially an angle of with the result that it is transversely decreased in cross-sectional area at the point of bend, thus causing the flow of air to the chanter to be impeded substantially and the relative volumes of air passing to the chanter and drones caused to depart from that which is theoretically desirable. This undesirable result cannot be properly remedied by enlarging the neck in transverse section and other expedients resorted to have not been successful in insuring a full and free flow of air to the chanter at all times.

The bag of a bagpipe having a neck of the improved type contemplated by this invention is formed from a blank such as that shown in plan in Figure 4, this blank comprising a body portion B from one end of which extend two curved strips indicated at b and b, these strips curving outwardly and oppositely from the axis CC and the inside edges 0! and d (i. e., those edges which are to be found upon the inside of the curved neck when the bag has been completed) and outside edges 6 and e being formed with substantially the same radii. When the blank such as indicated at B in Figure 4 is folded along the axis CC the two curved neck portions b and b will fall into parallel planes and will be in complete registry with each other, back to back. The inside edges d and d may then be readily connected together by stitching such as indicated at 20, a seam thus being formed, but this seam being inside of the neck and largely hidden, therefore entirely inconspicuous.

The outside edges e and e are not directly connected as by stitching but are held in the positions in which they are shown in Figure 2 by means of overlapping and underlapping strips 22 and 23 respectively, these strips being connected to each other by stitches 24 which not only pass through the strips but through the intermediate portions of the neck adjacent edges e and e, the edges 8 and e being thus held in abutting relation. Preferably the rectangular strip members 22 are of leather or hide of substantially the same thickness as the blank B and these two strips, together with the stitching 24, comprise a smooth continuous stiffening means, functioning to maintain the shape of the neck at all times substantially as illustrated in Figure 3 but at the same time being stiiliy flexible so as to permit folding of the bag into small space for the purpose of storage and transportation.

It will be appreciated that minor variations in the bagpipe neck structure which has been described may be adopted while at the same time the benefits of the invention are retained, the invention not being limited to the exact structure described and illustrated.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a bagpipe, in combination, a bag and an elongated flute-like sounding member, the bag having a thin flexible wall of skin or the like and being adapted to receive and temporarily retain a substantial volume of air to be used in the operation of the sounding member, said bag having at one end an integral, curved, air-conducting neck of reduced cross-section, to the free end of which the sounding member is attached, said neck including two relatively narrow curved strips each integral with the body of the bag and the adjacent margins of which are interconnected, the arrangement being such that the neck is always fully open when the bag is under a player's arm and the sounding member is in playing position.

2. In a bagpipe, in combination, a bag and an elongated flute-like sounding member, the bag having a thin flexible wall of skin or the like and being adapted to receive and temporarily retain a substantial volume of air to be used in the operation of the sounding member, said bag having at one end an integral, curved, air-conducting neck of reduced cross-section, to the free end of which the sounding member is attached, said neck including two relatively narrow similarly curved strips each integral with the body of the bag and corresponding arcuate edges of which are interconnected, the outside edges of said strips being interconnected by means of a flexible member which also comprises a stiffening member tending to maintain the neck fully open when the bag is under a players arm and the sounding member is in playing position.

3. In a bagpipe, in combination, a bag and an elongated flute-like sounding member, the bag having a thin flexible wall of Stan or the like and being adapted to receive and temporarily retain a substantial volume of air to be used in e the operation of the sounding member, said bag having at one end an integral, curved, air-conducting neck of reduced cross-section, to the free end of which the sounding member is attached, said neck including two relatively nar-- row similarly curved strips each integral with the body of the bag and corresponding arcuate edges of which are interconnected, the outside edges of said strips being interconnected by means of inner and outer flexible members each stitched to both strips, which members render the neck relatively stiff without destroying its flexibility and likewise tend to maintain the neck fully open when the bag is under a players arm and the sounding member is in playing position.

JOHN ADAMSON. 

